Events

Deadline: November 15th, 2015 Payment: 50% of the net profit will be paid through sales of the stand-alone ebook-exclusive novella; 4% of the net profit will be paid though sales of the omnibus anthology in both print and digital editions. The Master Detective may have passed away, once, when he fell over the falls. The Master Detective may have passed away, twice, seemingly forever when his creator’s pen fell silent. But the Master Detective is an old familiar, all too willing to rematerialize at the merest provocation. We ask you to summon up Sherlock Holmes once more. We ask you to take the canonical Holmes, just as Doyle left him, and work him into your style and into your fictional universe. We ask you to create the finest mysteries and adventures. The Science of Detection is a twelve-part novella series; one will be released each month in 2016, climaxing with a Christmas 2016 release of The Science of Detection: Twelve Cases of Sherlock Holmes, an anthology containing all twelve of the stand-alone novellas as well as bonus features. We eagerly await your stories… What we want: We want the author’s voice and narrative style to shine through. Unless you choose to write in a flawless imitation of Doyle’s style, you are encouraged to write in your own words. If you have a series character you feel would be appropriate for a team-up or shared-universe story, you are all the more encouraged to utilize them. We want your story to be focused (think of your novella as a long short story rather than a short novel), and we want every word to count. We want the Master Detective to matter. He can’t be an unimportant side-subject; he must directly pertain to the story at hand. (However, it is entirely possible to...

Deadline: November 15, 2015 Payment: $10 and contributor's copy Anthologist: Rhonda Parrish Fourth title in Rhonda Parrish's Magical Menageries anthology series from World Weaver Press featuring Fae, Corvidae, and Scarecrow. Greek mythology describes the Sirens as being charismatic monsters; part bird, part woman, with enchanting voices whose songs either lure men to, or foretell, their deaths. In Roman mythology they play a similar role but shift their domain to the sea and take the form of mermaid-like creatures. Mythological Sirens such as these come with a capital ess; there are only a small number of them, they have names, Godly parents and occupations. Those Sirens are welcome within the pages of this anthology, but so are their lower-case sisters. In Sirens, we will honor and share stories of historical Sirens, but we’ve equal room for modern re-imaginings and will be giving matching space to both avian and aquatic varieties. Whether from the sea or sky, sirens are beautiful, dangerous and musical, and we’re open to works that exemplify as well as those which defy those expectations.Sirens will be a book full of tales that evoke a vast spectrum of emotions toward these maidens, empathy, disdain, sorrow, awe and anger. I want stories of wretched and cursed sirens who fight against the roles imposed upon them and tales of those who revel in them. I’m hoping for pieces re-telling or playing upon the traditional myths and others which create their own mythologies, and all the little niches in between. We are looking for speculative stories up to 7,500 words long. Rights and compensation: Payment: $10 and a paperback copy of the anthology from World Weaver Press. We are looking for previously unpublished works in English. Seeking first world rights in English and exclusive right to publish in print and electronic format for six months after...

Deadline: November 16th, 2015 Payment: 6 cents per word and 3 Apex books For the past few years we’ve asked you to stretch your massive writing muscles by creating some the tiniest stories for our annual flash fiction contest. The response has always been outstanding, and it is almost time for you amazing writers to do it again! Get out of the way! Run for cover! Because it is time for Apex’s Christmas Invasion! That’s right. This year our flash fiction contest is all about Christmas invasions. Whether your invaders are robots, aliens, or sentient Christmas ornaments is completely up to you, but if you want to win, you must write us a story no longer than 250 words that deals with an invasion and Christmas. From all of the submissions, we will select three winners. The winning stories will be featured in the December issue of Apex Magazine, and the authors will be paid 6 cents per word. In addition to being published in Apex Magazine, they will also win 3 Apex books of their choice. Want something more? Everyone who enters will receive a free issue of Apex Magazine! All you need to do is let us know which issue you would like to receive and we will send you a download link. The nitty, gritty: Submissions open on 12:01am EST, October 15th and close at 11:59pm EST, November 16th. Stories must be 250 words or less. If a story is longer than that, it will be deleted unread. You may submit up to 3 times, but please submit each entry in a separate email. Submissions should include a brief cover letter, including which issue of Apex Magazine you’d like to receive, as well as the story. Stories should be in the body of the email. Do NOT...

Deadline: November 21, 2015 Payment: Contributors copy and royalties to be paid quarterly: 50% of the proceeds divided evenly between all authors FTB Press proudly presents our second call for submissions. We are asking new, emerging and established writers to create something from nothing and the FILL THE BLANK page with wonderful words. We hope you can take a simple idea and turn it into a captivating and engaging story for the reader. The simple idea we are offering is ODD- ISMs. The question is... what exactly is an ODD-ISM? –ISM can be an action noun, a way of thinking, belief or ideology. Maybe your character has seen every Bill Murray movie and has adopted a way of life called Murrayism, this is the type of oddness we are looking for. What we are not looking for is Feudalism, Institutionalism or Barbarism. What might work is Fantasticism, Idiotism or Barbarellaism. Take any random word and add –ism to the end, it might work. The stranger, the more outlandish the -ISM, the better. A panel of editors using a specific set of criteria will read all stories selected for publication. What we are looking for in submissions: 1. 4000 words or less. 2. MS Word file submitted with author’s last name, title, and word count at the top of the page (not a header). 3. We are not picky with font style as long as it is easy to read. 4. Please do not double space. 5. Please title submitted files as lastname.titleofstory.oddism 6. Author’s full name and mailing address in the email with a brief 50-word bio. 7. Multiple submissions are ok, although we will only publish one per author and they must be submitted separately. 8. Simultaneous submissions are ok. We only ask you inform us if your story...

Deadline: November 25th Payment: $3 Simply put this is a creative writing site that puts the adage, "a picture paints a thousand words" to the test. The premise is that, each month, an image will be given as a visual prompt and you will have up to one thousand words to tell the story that you are inspired to write ... using your imagination as the canvas and language as your brush. We are open to submissions of artwork to inspire stories and stories inspired by the artwork - how very Ouroboros of us! Please make sure to read ALL the instructions on this page (especially the sections on 'Copyright' and 'Compensation' before submitting a piece of writing or artwork. We take a submission to With Painted Words as your permission for us to publish your work and do not send out other formal contracts. Thank you. Piece of Writing We accept works of fiction - and poetry - of up to one thousand (1000) words, at most, in length. This is the maximum amount - if you can tell a compelling story in as little as fifty words, for example, then you are more than welcome to do so. All submissions must be inspired by the current section Key to fiction types: Flash Fiction 501-1000 words Micro Fiction up to 501 words Poetry   Please make sure to include your full name/s, e-mail address, and bio (including a link to your personal site/blog) with your submission and, if you so choose, the thought process behind your story. Please send your submissions by the deadline stated in the current section .  Pieces received after the deadline cannot be considered for publication. 'With Painted Words' reserve the right to reject any submission without explanation. Deadline:- This will usually be the 25th...

Deadline: November 30th 2015 Payment: 1 cent per word PROMPTS: We want to see the prompt inspire your writing. To bleed through every letter. If our quarterly is about Apollo, give us stories about the galaxies, about the sun, about archery. Give us stories that breathe Apollo. If the prompt is Artemis, give us forests, give us beasts, give us epic hunts. This does not mean we want stories ABOUT Apollo, or Artemis. VERY IMPORTANT: Please include a note as to how your story is inspired or relates to the theme/prompt you are submitting to. If you do not do this, we cannot guarantee your story will be read. A single sentence is sufficient. This is not necessary for our annual, genre specific anthologies (Gaia and Typhon). Below are our OPEN prompts:   HESTIA (# 9) – Publication Date: WINTER 2016 Greek goddess of the hearth and home, eldest daughter of the titans Rhea and Cronus, and sister of Zeus. She is a sworn virgin, known for her kindness.The opposite of Aphrodite. Symbolized by the hearth, she is the first to receive any sacrifice to the gods, and oversees the burning of sacrifices on Olympus. Send us your household stories–your domestic noir, haunted houses, tales of forgotten homes, distant homes, missing homes. Tell us your hearth-side fairy tales and old legends. Contemporary stories of the sacrifices we make in our homes every day. “Hestia, you who tend the holy house of the lord Apollo, the Far-shooter at goodly Pytho, with soft oil dripping ever from your locks, come now into this house, come, having one mind with Zeus the all-wise: draw near, and withal bestow grace upon my song.” Submissions open May 1st 2015 and close November 30st 2015. NOTE: Please read the entire page before emailing questions. Make sure your submissions are up to the...

Deadline: November 30th, 2015 Payment: AUD4c/word and contributor's copy Anacondas, piranha, giant crocodiles/alligators/lizards, mutated bears near nuclear power stations, prehistoric sharks. These are a few of my favourite things. All of these featured heavily in books and films of the 70s and 80s, when bio-horror was at its modern peak. For this anthology of military-bio-horror stories, we are looking for you to take us back to those days. Think Greg McLean’s Rogue, Lake Placid, Eight-legged Freaks, Anaconda, Meg, Prophecy, Deep Blue Sea, and other modern films/books where people (in this case soldiers) are fighting against mutated or ultra-dangerous animals. Stories must include a strong military-combat aspect. We STRONGLY suggest you read some of the earlier SNAFUs to see what it is we like. SNAFU – http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00LNXHLJG SNAFU: Heroes – http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00MSVEY2Y SNAFU: Wolves at the Door – http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00RQ56AUG SNAFU: Survival of the Fittest – http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00Y3X86OC ~ Edited by Geoff Brown and Amanda J Spedding ~ Payment: AUD4c/word and one contributor copy in each format released ~ Wordcount range: 2,000 – 10,000 words (query for shorter or longer) ~ Submissions open September 1, 2015. Closing date is November 30th, 2015 (anything submitted before or after this time will be deleted without being read or replied to). No selections will be made until after the period closes. Projected publication date: August 2016 Please follow these guidelines when submitting to us: 1. Please put your full contact details on the first page of the manuscript top left, with word count top right. 2. Standard submission format, with minimal document formatting. 3. Courier or Times New Roman set at 12pt. Italics as they will appear. No underlining. 4. Double spaced. 5. Please don’t use TAB or space bar to indent lines. Use ‘styles’ only. If unsure or using a program that has no styles, do...

Deadline: $13 plus a contributor’s copy Payment: November 30, 2015 Witches have long captivated mankind throughout recorded history, and remain influential as one of the most iconic of folkloric images. Nosetouch Press wants your very best witch stories, featuring magical, powerful women who use witchcraft for good or evil, in classic as well as new takes on witches–we welcome vintage witches, good witches, wicked witches, futuristic witches, high fantasy witches, techno-witches, boundary-breaking witches–bring them all! Wax & Wane is an anthology of 13 fantastic witch stories to entrance and enchant readers and fans of witches everywhere. Submissions are open from October 1 through November 30, 2015. Please email Nosetouch Press at submissions nosetouchpress.com and include all submissions as an attachment (.doc or .rtf). Please list the anthology title in your subject line. No simultaneous or multiple submissions, please. Submission Schedule Submissions Accepted: October 1 through November 30, 2015 Length: 2,000 to 10,000 words Payment: $13 plus a contributor’s copy Release: May, 2016 Via: Nose Touch Press.

Deadline: November 30, 2015 Payment: $20 and a digital copy Do you love to write fantasy stories? Do you dream of princesses and dragons? Do the dragons sometimes win? Come write for me! I’m putting together my first anthology, called Swords of Darkness. Selected stories will be fantasy tales featuring a sword, though what you do beyond that is up to you. Previously published authors and newbies are both welcome to submit. What I’m looking for: Fantasy stories featuring a sword of some kind. Ideal length is 3,000-6,000 words, but stories up to 10,000 words will be considered. I’m more concerned that you tell a story to completion, rather than write to a specific word count. If you’re worried about length, just email me. I’ll get back to you as quickly as possible. Previously published works are fine, but please let me know at the time of submission. I’ll be selecting 10 stories for publication. Pay: I’ll be buying one-time digital publication rights. Pay is $20 per story + a digital copy when the book is completed. (You can do whatever you want with your story, including self-publish it or submit it to other publishers. You retain all of your rights.) Submission deadline: November 30, 2015 Publication date: January 1st, 2016 Edited by: L.C. Mortimer, author of The Dead of Night. When I’m not busy penning zombie novels, I’m a full-time non-fiction writer and editor. Where to Submit: Email submissions to [email protected]. Please don’t stress or worry about formatting. I will be reformatting everything once I select the stories, so don’t waste your time worrying. As long as I can open the story in Word, I’m happy. You will hear back from me with a yay or nay by December 15th. What to Send: Email me your story as an attachment. Please include a brief author bio. If you have social media...

Deadline: November 30th, 2015 Payment: 1% royalties for a year and a digital copy. For our Fantasy issue we are looking for serious fantasy. If you want to write about elves for instance, we are more likely to accept a story about the kind you’d find in middle earth rather than the north pole. Dark fantasy will have an easier time being accepted, but that doesn’t mean it needs to be horror to be dark, there is a difference between grim and gruesome. Also, don’t misinterpret serious to say we aren’t interested in humor, but the jokes and quips need to be ‘part’ of the story and not the ‘point’ of the story. We are flexible about sub-genre, but it should be fantasy primarily. Some examples of the type of fantasy we like are found in the works of Terry Brooks, J. R. R. Tolkien, Robert Jordan, and Jonathen Moeller, among many others. Overall we like quality fiction that tells a good story and takes us to amazing and mystical worlds. If in doubt, go ahead and send it to us. At worst we’ll reject your story and at best we’ll accept it. We are currently accepting short stories for our yearly anthology and illustrations for an anthology contest. If you wish for us to review one of your published ebooks for promotion on this sight, please refer to the bottom of this page.   Short Stories: To be included in our annual anthology Payment: 1% royalties for a year and a digital copy. Word count: 2,500 – 7,000 (5,000 is preferred) Submission Window: October 1 – Nov. 30th Projected publication date: January Please follow these guidelines when submitting (Failure to comply may result in your story being deleted without being read) Standard Manuscript Formatting We do accept multiple submissions, but...